Need for rural exhibitions to benefit SME entrepreneurs

The SME Machinery Exhibition 2008 is a very successful exhibition and attempts should be made to conduct this type of exhibition in rural Sri Lanka, away from the city which will benefit rural SME entrepreneurs, said Kumara Welgama, Minister of Industrial Development, while inaugurating the exhibition recently at the BMICH.

Themed "Technology for Rural, Micro and SME Development", the exhibition was held for the third consecutive year and organized by SMED, a project of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka. The exhibition included machinery, ancillary equipment, processes, methods and new technology. Welgama said that due to the soaring interest rates, apart from big industries, even a small business cannot be carried on and noted that a solution to remedy this crisis should be found.

He said that the prevailing rising interest rates were not conducive to industrial development in the country and therefore some action should to be taken to tackle this problem. Nawaz Rajabdeen, President, FCCISL, said that the promotion of small and medium enterprises is considered as a clear approach to sustainable development. He said that this sector mobilizes scarce resources and caters to the needs of fragmented domestic markets in a developing country like Sri Lanka and contributes to the GDP, creating employment and earning much needed foreign currency through exports.

He said that technology plays a crucial role in making SMEs competitive and sustainable. Enhanced production technologies, quality control and packaging technologies made the final product more marketable and profitable.